Equipment Recommendations Needed for 4 Wire Power/Control of 4 Devices

S

Thread Starter

Sparky49

The installation has an four conductor 10 AWG direct burial cable which is <b>installed in a manner that does not permit any additional conductors to be added</b>. The four conductors powered two devices. Now two more devices must be added. Each device must be independently controlled. This cable is the <b>ONLY</b> electrical connection to the location.

I'm looking for a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) solution.

I have been building devices to do this type of thing since 1965 but I have never had to use a COTS device before.

I see irrigation control systems that would seem to do the job, but I need something more robust. (This is not a Classified area.)

Do you have any recommendations?
 
R
Moore Industries used to have a device called a Data Concentrator however it would need a pair of wires not in the same cable.

You could use one pair for power and have a DC contactor for each load.
The contactor coil would be connected to the power Neutral, the other side of the coil through a diode to one wire.<pre>
Neutral..Coil..Diode..Signal
|----------(1)-->|-------|
|----------(2)--|<-------|

To run load 1 send a negative signal
To run load 2 send a positive signal
to run load 1 & 2 send an AC signal
Similarly loads 3 & 4 would share the other wire.</pre>
I hope the sketch shows up as intended
 
Mr. Matson,

Thank you for the reply. The ladder diagram looks good.

The full diagram looks like this? (I realize the neutral is on the wrong side)<pre>
N(Wire 1)Coil..Diode....contacts
|----------(1)-->|--------------| <-Wire 2 (Signal)
|----------(2)--|<--------------|
|
|----------(3)-->|--------------| <-Wire 3 (Signal)
|----------(4)--|<--------------|
|
|-----[device 1]-----------||---| <- Wire 4 120V AC
| 1 |
|-----[device 2]-----------||---|
| 2 |
|-----[device 3]-----------||---|
| 3 |
|-----[device 4]-----------||---|
| 4 |</pre>
Which is the way I would normally do this.

However, the owner wants a COTS device (or two).

If there is no COTS solution available, then what DC contactors would you recommend which would not chatter when powered with half wave rectified AC?

>Moore Industries used to have a device called a Data
>Concentrator however it would need a pair of wires not in
>the same cable.
>
>You could use one pair for power and have a DC contactor for
>each load.
>The contactor coil would be connected to the power Neutral,
>the other side of the coil through a diode to one
>wire.<pre>
>Neutral..Coil..Diode..Signal
>|----------(1)-->|-------|
>|----------(2)--|<-------|
>
>To run load 1 send a negative signal
>To run load 2 send a positive signal
>to run load 1 & 2 send an AC signal
>Similarly loads 3 & 4 would share the other wire.</pre>
>I hope the sketch shows up as intended
 
Thanks to everyone who took the time to look. We found several empty conduits in a room which was concealed. Therefore, no fancy wiring is needed.

This has been a good exercise in research anyway.

Cheers!
 
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